Rouhani: Surveillance Must Be Legal, No One Can Interfere in Government Affairs

The President of Iran expressed satisfaction with the criticisms of the proposed budget for the year 2018, called for respect for individuals' privacy, and stated that all organizations conducting surveillance must do so based on 'law.' He added that institutions should not interfere in the affairs of ministers, including the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Science. According to the state news agency IRNA, Hassan Rouhani made these remarks on Tuesday, December 19, during the first national conference on the progress and solutions to remove obstacles to the realization of citizens' rights. Rouhani emphasized 'access to information for the people,' stating that 'everyone should know what is happening and what decisions are being made.' He expressed happiness over the criticism of the proposed budget for 2018, saying, 'You might not believe how happy I am when our budget went to the parliament and the next day there was a commotion on social media; how beautiful.' Rouhani stated that he 'kisses the hand' of those who criticize the 'Planning and Budget Organization, the government, and the president,' adding that 'people are comparing and saying why this cultural institution was allocated so many billions of tomans.' The Iranian President did not name any specific institution but mentioned a long list of 17 different entities that only took money from the government, stating that if the payment was delayed, they would complain about why the government had not paid them. He noted, 'Then we ask where this money was spent, and they say it’s none of your business. You gave us the money, goodbye, we will spend it wherever we want.' Rouhani added that 'some of that money was spent on undermining the government... which I think is not important. But where did this money go?' He stated, 'An organization, a non-governmental public entity, does not take money from the people and the treasury, taxes, and duties; of course, it’s fine for them to work with their own money, but if they intend to take money from the treasury, that is, from public funds, they must report.' Rouhani's praise for the criticism of the 2018 budget on social media came at a time when he did not address criticisms regarding the reduction of subsidies and the increase in fuel prices or water and electricity in these networks. Earlier, Mahmoud Sadeghi, a representative from Tehran, stated on Sunday, December 17, that 'the improper distribution of credits in annual budgets has led to an imbalance in social classes. Year after year, the gap between poverty and wealth is exacerbated by the annual budgets of the country.' In another part of his speech, Rouhani declared 'transparency' as the solution to combating corruption, stating, 'If we create hundreds of institutions to combat corruption, if dozens of courts fight corruption, we cannot eradicate corruption unless people can see transparently what we are doing.' He added, 'We must go into a glass room, we must be under the spotlight, and everyone must observe us.' Regarding individuals' privacy, he stated that it is no one's business. He reported participating in multiple daily meetings with various organizations and entities over the past five months, where they suggested filtering certain content and closing networks, to which he inquired about the reasons. Rouhani said, 'I would ask why? And they would find a fault. They would say, if a driver commits an offense, should we close the highways? What kind of argument is that?' He identified one way to create jobs in Iran as utilizing 'cyberspace and the internet,' stating, 'Can we exit the internet in today's world and say we want to create jobs? Is that possible?' While acknowledging the 'danger' in the internet, he called for educating teenagers in schools about cyberspace and emphasized the necessity of having 'safe, sound, easy, and cheap internet' in Iran. He promised the people that the Minister of Communications 'will not press the filtering button' and that 'some people's dreams of filtering social networks will not be realized.' Previously, Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, the Minister of Communications and Information Technology, stated on December 4 that the Attorney General's office had considered conditions for 'asymmetric filtering,' and this ministry was reviewing the Attorney General's proposals and preparing the necessary technical response for implementing this project. Nevertheless, he stated on December 9 that 'the issue recently published as the asymmetric filtering plan with details is fundamentally false. No such plan has been proposed in the Ministry of Communications.' Officials from the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology had previously implemented the 'smart filtering' plan regarding Instagram in the winter of 2014. In another part of his speech, Rouhani announced, 'We do not want a security atmosphere' and added, 'We do not want to see what is happening in people's lives and family matters? What are two friends doing? Who sent a text message to whom and what did they say?' He stated that 'we should let go, stop, and leave the people free,' adding that that era has passed, 'by God, it has passed, let it go.' Rouhani said, 'If someone wants to study at the bachelor’s and master’s level, what business is it of yours? ... Security goes to the neighbor to ask if this young man is a good young man? That he lives in his house, is his wife? What does it have to do with you? What nonsense is this?' The Iranian President stated that 'we think we are the absolute intellect and, God forbid, the people are unaware,' calling for a free university atmosphere and the absence of star students. His remarks regarding star students come at a time when there have been many criticisms about the star-student policy during his administration. Nevertheless, Rouhani, in a speech on Student Day on December 7 at Sistan and Baluchestan University, stated, 'Stars belong in the sky, not in the university. A student comes to the university to speak freely and express their opinions.' These remarks were made while, despite his promises to eliminate the 'security atmosphere' in universities, numerous reports have emerged about the crackdown on student activists. In this context, Mansour Gholami, the Minister of Science, Research, and Technology, also stated on December 16 that there are no 'political' star students in Iran and that the problem for 'most' of these students is a 'file defect.' Following this, Majid Dary and Mahdieh Golroo, two star students, protested against these remarks in front of the Ministry building. Surveillance must be conducted according to the law. The Iranian President stated, 'Are we specialists in creating files for people?' He added that even the Prophet of Islam did not ask hypocrites and infidels, 'What were you doing last night?' He would not say that even if he wanted to prosecute, he would still not use his knowledge. By God, the Prophet did not place surveillance. He considered the cases for surveillance 'specific' and stated that 'except for cases like terrorism, organized crime, and conspiracies against the entire country, we do not have surveillance.' This is a resolution of the Supreme National Security Council. Rouhani added that he informs all security agencies, including 'the Ministry of Intelligence, the IRGC, the police, and several other agencies that sometimes do these things, that they must act according to the law.' He also mentioned without naming the institutions that interfere in government policymaking in various matters that 'in cultural issues, our minister is responsible. Our Minister of Culture and Minister of Education are responsible. They have responsibilities. In foreign policy, our Foreign Minister is responsible.' Hassan Rouhani stated that 'it is not possible for everyone to want to interfere,' adding, 'Article 113 of the Constitution states that the President is responsible for enforcing the Constitution, and we all must implement the Constitution. We have nothing beyond the Constitution and the law in this country.' In another part of his speech, he asked ministers and officials to report on the implementation of citizens' rights, detailing what actions have been taken in the past year to implement citizens' rights and what plans they have for the next year. The discussion of citizens' rights comes at a time when human rights organizations and trade unions have criticized the performance of the Ministry of Intelligence under Rouhani's government in dealing with labor activists. In this context, Mahmoud Salehi, a labor activist in Saqqez, accused the intelligence officials in Sanandaj of causing his kidneys to fail due to negligence and failure to deliver his medications in May 2015. The Ministry of Intelligence has not responded to this issue. Hassan Rouhani has raised the slogans related to 'citizens' rights' since his first electoral campaign in 2013, and last year he also signed the text known as the 'Charter of Citizens' Rights.' However, in recent months, criticisms regarding the non-implementation of this charter have increased. Meanwhile, the discussion about the Charter of Citizens' Rights continues amid disagreements among various factions of reformists and principlists over the interpretation of jurisprudence and laws enacted after the 1979 revolution for nearly two decades. At the same time, human rights defenders and advocates for gender equality, along with supporters of the rights of religious, ethnic minorities, and critics of the religious government, have accused the Islamic Republic of Iran of violating the legal and citizen rights of Iranians and have listed instances of this in multiple reports. The repression of Bahá'ís in Iran has always faced international criticism, and in the latest instance, Asma Jahangir, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, criticized the 'harassment of Bahá'ís in Iran' in a report to the UN General Assembly, considering their arrest and deprivation of education as a violation of 'human rights.' Besides Bahá'ís, other religious minorities in Iran, including Sunnis and Christian converts, have also faced multiple pressures. The US State Department, in its latest annual report on religious freedoms worldwide, criticized the actions of the Islamic Republic officials, and the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly expressed concern over the continued violations of the rights of religious minorities. Iranian officials typically dismiss these reports.